THURSDAy, MARCH 5 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST eZ M2 A21
the safety of our country,” Trump
tweeted in response.
roberts has been reluctant to
enter t he fray s ince then.
He declined a request for com-
ment after Trump cranked out six
blasts about the handling of
Stone’s sentencing, including one
that targeted U.S. District Judge
Amy Berman Jackson, who pre-
sided o ver the case.
Last m onth, in tweets and com-
ments at a news conference in
India, Trump called on Sotomayor
and Ginsburg to recuse them-
selves from any cases that were
“Trump-related.”
He interpreted as biased a dis-
sent from Sotomayor about his
administration’s tendency to seek
emergency interventions from
the Supreme Court and reminded
Ginsburg of remarks she made
about him as a candidate in 2016,
for which she has expressed re-
gret.
Through a court spokeswom-
an, roberts, Sotomayor and Gins-
burg declined to respond to
Trump’s c omments.
[email protected]
[email protected]seung Min Kim and Alice Crites
contributed to this report.roberts does not just call balls
and strikes.”
The reference was to roberts’s
testimony at his confirmation
hearing in 2005, during which he
compared judges to umpires.
roberts is generally reluctant
to comment w hen politicians crit-
icize the court or other members
of the federal judiciary. He made
an exception in November 2018
after Trump denounced an
“obama judge” who had ruled
against t he administration.
“We do not have obama judges
or Trump judges, Bush judges or
Clinton judges,” roberts said in a
statement issued by the court.
“What we have is an extraordinary
group of dedicated judges doing
their l evel best to do equal right t o
those appearing before them.
That independent judiciary is
something we should all be thank-
ful for.”
The chief justice, who earlier
this year presided over Trump’s
impeachment trial in the Senate,
learned that the president often
has the last word.
“Sorry Chief Justice John rob-
erts, but you do indeed have
‘obama judges,’ and they have a
much different point of view than
the people who are charged withsuch and Kavanaugh had “re-
leased the whirlwind, and you will
pay the price,” seemed to recall
Kavanaugh’s testimony to Demo-
crats in 2018 on the Senate Judi-
ciary Committee after he was ac-
cused of having committed s exual
assault as a teenager.
“You sowed the wind for de-
cades to come,” Kavanaugh said.
“I fear that the whole country will
reap the whirlwind.”
Justin Goodman, a spokesman
for Schumer, did not answer a
question about whether the simi-
larities in the senator’s comments
were intentional, but he said
Schumer was not threatening the
justices with violence.
“Senator Schumer’s comments
were a reference to the political
price Senate republicans will pay
for putting these justices on the
court, and a warning that the
justices will unleash a major
grass-roots movement on the is-
sue of reproductive rights against
the decision,” G oodman s aid.
“for Justice roberts to follow
the right wing’s deliberate misin-
terpretation of what Senator
Schumer said, while remaining
silent when President Trump at-
tacked Justices Sotomayor and
Ginsburg last week, s hows Justiceplays out in front of the Supreme
Court whenever it hears a contro-
versial case, especially abortion.
As protesters from both sides of
the issue crowded the sidewalk,
Schumer spoke to abortion rights
supporters.
“We stand here today because
behind me, inside the walls of this
court, the Supreme Court is hear-
ing arguments for the first major
abortion r ights case since Justices
Kavanaugh and Justice Gorsuch
came to the b ench,” S chumer said,
as his mention of the justices drew
boos from the crowd.
“We know what’s at stake. over
the last three years, women’s re-
productive rights have come un-
der attack in a way we haven’t s een
in modern history.”
After his comments in which he
said Gorsuch and Kavanaugh
would “pay the price,” Schumer
added: “We will tell President
Trump and Senate republicans
who have stacked the courts with
right-wing ideologues that you’re
going to be gone in November, and
you’ll never be able to do what
you’re trying to do now ever, ever
again. You hear that over there on
the far right? You’re gone in No-
vember.”
Schumer’s comment that Gor-minority Whip Steve Scalise
(r-La.) shared a snippet of
Schumer’s remarks on Twitter,
with a red siren icon, calling
Schumer “unhinged.”
“Enough. This rhetoric has
dangerous consequences. Where’s
the media outrage?” h e tweeted.
Sen. Ben Sasse (r-Neb.) shared
similar thoughts.
“Think about this, if a republi-
can threatened Justice Sotomayor
or Justice Ginsburg, it would be
the biggest s tory not just in Wash-
ington but all across America,”
Sasse s aid in a statement.
“But, Chuck Schumer’s bully
tactics aren’t getting much air
time right now because there’s so
many people in bed with his de-
fense o f abortion and his attack o n
an independent judiciary,” Sasse
continued.
on the left, Brian fallon of the
liberal nonprofit organization D e-
mand Justice, said: “It takes a
certain amount of chutzpah for
John roberts to condemn these
comments by Chuck Schumer af-
ter saying nothing when Presi-
dent Trump attacked two Demo-
cratic-appointed justices just last
month.”
Schumer’s remarks came dur-
ing the circuslike atmosphere t hatdent, who wrote on Twitter: “This
is a direct & dangerous threat to
the U.S. Supreme Court by Schum-
er. If a republican did this, he or
she would be arrested, or im-
peached. Serious action mUST be
taken NoW!”
Later, Trump tweeted about the
matter again with a threat similar
to the one Schumer was being
criticized for making.
“He must pay a severe price for
this!” Trump wrote.
The GoP denounced Schumer
and criticized the media for what
they said was a lack of outrage.
Democrats demanded to know
why roberts had not spoken out
last week when Trump singled out
liberal Justices ruth Bader Gins-
burg and Sonia Sotomayor for
criticism, or why he did not de-
fend the federal judge Trump de-
nounced for her oversight of the
trial of the president’s friend rog-
er Stone.
The episode underscored the
partisan politics that have en-
gulfed the fight over the judiciary,
which is supposed to be the non-
partisan branch of the govern-
ment.
on the republican side, House
ScHumer from A1
GOP seizes on Schumer’s remarks on major abortion case
Andrew HArnIK/AssoCIAted PressSenate minority Leader charles e. Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks to activists Wednesday as the Supreme court heard its first major case on abortion rights since President Trump appointed two justices to the bench.